Today I got my official ID badge which means that I am able to get into all sorts of fun places now!! Since I got my badge it was time to head around the building and explore the building. My main purpose for the two hours that I would end up walking was to find where the other Oregon Congressmen were located. So myself and James, another intern who I am helping to replace this summer, headed off and started with the Oregon Representatives whose offices are pretty spread out throughout the three office buildings. While walking down one hall I came across a NASA exhibit, a precursor to their larger meeting later that day, and I was able to play with an x-box Kinect system that made it so that I was repairing a broken solar shield...I did it fairly fast considering they said it was the hardest part of the game and wow are those things amazing!! We also happened to walk by Congressmen Weiner's office and the brigade of news crews outside which doesn't make sense since he isn't coming in this week. After stopping in at all the Representatives' offices we crossed through the Capitol, took the Senate tram to find the Senators' offices and didn't run into anything to fun and exciting. We got back to the office two hours later and part of the noon tour group was there waiting so I got a quick fifteen minutes to sit down.
We took a group of six out on the Capitol tour and I was there to watch and learn what exactly needed to get done when you have a group that large moving through the Capitol. Moving a group of six doesn't seem to hard but when the Capitol Visitor's Center staff (aka "the Red Coats" because they literally wear red coats but it still makes me laugh to think "the British are coming the British are coming!") gets in the way with their groups of fifty people (they have headsets attached to radios to be able to hear their one guide). Also since the red coats' groups have headphones on they are pretty much oblivious to others trying to do anything around them, to the point that they will run into you. Sometimes you just want to say: No, really, I wasn't standing here trying to explain that picture, please walk right through my conversation, stand with your camera in front of you so that you now no longer have eyesight as well as no hearing, and take that wonderful picture. Some people... We however did get them through the tour and then headed to the House Gallery where you are able to watch CSPAN in live action...its about as exciting as watching it on tv. Seeing the actual room was interesting because it was smaller then I thought it would be and can't imagine how crowded it must seem when all the Congressmen are actually in there. The art and history however are just as amazing as the rest of the Capitol which you could spend days in looking at. I took two members of our group who had to get somewhere else soon back to the office to get their bags while the rest headed over to the Senate side. I was finally done and got to get some lunch where I was also able to learn that the cafeteria closes promptly at 2:30 so luckily I got there ten minutes before. After work I went on a scavenger hunt for Safeway and found that it is an easy walk and a much cheaper choice then CVS!! A good end to a long day of walking.
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